The taxing unit would authorize a levy not to exceed one mil of property taxes per year — or $1 per $1,000 of taxable valuable. On Tuesday, McDaniel said he would be in favor of capping the levy at ½ mil instead.

The proposed ordinance would include a mechanism for some property owners to opt out of the tax if their roads are in good condition and maintained continually.

Commissioners unanimously moved the ordinance ahead during a meeting earlier this month. But some expressed concern with the proposal Tuesday and asked to have it brought back during their second meeting in September to iron out some details.

Penny Taylor/
Collier County commissioner(Photo11: Daily News file)

“I’d like a little more clarification on the process of how we go about identifying these roads,” Commissioner Penny Taylor said.

Commissioner Andy Solis said he had concerns about the legality of the proposed ordinance and suggested including definitions of what work would or would not be done on the roads.

Solis added that he was concerned that the proposed ordinance would take away the incentive of residents along private roads to maintain them.

“They’re just going to be paying in and waiting for them to get really bad and then the county will go fix it,” he said.

Usually, municipal services taxing units are created by asking the affected residents to vote on them via referendum, Solis said.

Andy Solis is chairman of the Collier County Commission.(Photo11: Daily News file)

“Is there a reason that we wouldn’t do this the way we do other MSTUs?” he said.

Commissioner Burt Saunders said he would like county staff to look at whether the funding mechanism should be a municipal services benefit unit, or MSBU, instead of a taxing unit.

A benefit unit would use a special assessment rather than a tax, said County Attorney Jeffrey Klatzkow. That way everybody with property along the road, regardless of whether it’s an expensive house or undeveloped land, would pay into the fund.

“It would be based on the actual length of road that’s in front of your house,” Klatzkow said.

An MSTU would be “a straight tax on everybody,” he said.

“But a lot of people fall outside the straight tax because their homestead (exemption) basically is more valuable than where they’re living in,” Klatzkow said.

A handful of residents and local emergency officials spoke in favor of the proposed tax Tuesday.

Firetruck drivers with the North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District have found some rural private roads “almost impossible to navigate,” said Jorge Aguilera, assistant chief of the district.

“And one of the worst times to figure that out is when you’re actually responding to the call and you get to a point and you just can’t get there,” he said.